Daniels-led report: Mars or bust for space program

Jerry Ross, one of 23 Purdue University graduates picked for space flight, was part of a spacewalk during a 1998 space shuttle mission.
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The United States should recommit to human space exploration, but the expense and risk can only be worth it if the goal is to push a goal of putting astronaut boots on the surface of Mars, a National Research Council report out today concludes.

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels is co-chairman of the 17-member Committee on Human Spaceflight, which assembled a 285-page report, “Pathways to Exploration — Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration.”

The report, commissioned by Congress as NASA’s space shuttle program was being retired, maintains that there is still value in human space exploration. The report calls for an incremental and disciplined “pathway” beyond low-orbit flights, “executing a specific sequence of intermediate accomplishments and destinations leading to the ‘horizon goal’ of putting humans on Mars.” The report outlines various ways to get that done — all revolving around a mix of missions to asteroids, the moon and Martian moons.

The price would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars and the project would take decades, according to the report. And it would only work with “a steadfast commitment to a consensus goal, international collaboration and a budget that increases by more than the rate of inflation,” the committee wrote.

“Human space exploration remains vital to the national interest for inspirational and aspirational reasons that appeal to a broad range of U.S. citizens,” Daniels said in prepared statements released with the report this morning. “But given the expense of any human spaceflight program and the significant risk to the crews involved, in our view the only pathways that fit these criteria are those that ultimately place humans on other worlds.”

The report also found that while Americans have a good opinion about the space program, the public doesn’t pay much attention to it and spending on space exploration isn’t a high priority.

But the committee concludes there are “aspirational rationales” for sending humans into space, including what it calls “enduring questions:” How far from Earth can humans go? And what can humans discover and achieve when we get there?

“Our committee concluded that any human exploration program will only succeed if it is appropriately funded and receives a sustained commitment on the part of those who govern our nation,” Daniels said. “That commitment cannot change direction election after election. Our elected leaders are the critical enablers of the nation’s investment in human spaceflight, and only they can assure that the leadership, personnel, governance, and resources are in place in our human exploration program.”